While music creation apps are not a new idea on iOS and there have been many, the genre is quickly evolving and becoming increasingly more complex and fully featured. This is indeed the case with LoopMash from Steinberg Media Technologies.

LoopMash is not a simple or easy app to use -- it is not designed to be easily picked up and played with by just anyone with a passive interest in producing their own beats. Rather, it is a deep and potentially powerful music creation tool that lets you create your own techno-style music on the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. In fact, the app is actually based on a tool within Cubase, an incredibly popular music creation program.

The app is overflowing with options and features, and thanks to its innovative interface, the process is mostly hassle-free -- even on a device with very little screen real estate, like the iPhone. With LoopMash, you can blend up to four two-bar loops together by tweaking different audio elements, beats and tunes. There are over 40 presets and 240 loops to choose from, with a healthy variety of styles ranging from techno to electronica. There are so many options it’s overwhelming at first. You can do so much with this app.

Despite the impressive number of options there are when it comes to tweaking audio, LoopMash falls short in what I think would be an obvious area. There’s no way to share your musical creations with anyone. The app lacks social network integration, which so many other apps these days support. You can’t even export your creations to iTunes. Some baffling shortcomings, really, considering the productions values of the app.

Also, for as complex as LoopMash is, it would be nice if the app itself came with a more helpful tutorial of some kind. Yes, you can find such a tutorial online, but it really should be accessible within the app.

That noted, LoopMash is still a comprehensive and powerful tool. I do not have much experience when it comes to software like this and it is not something that I personally would finding myself using a lot. Frankly, I found the app to be overwhelming because of my lack of a music/mixing background. However, it is still a well-designed, useful tool for anyone looking to pump out their own beats.

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